THE CHARITABLE AID ENQUIRY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9021, 6 February 1895, Page 3

THE CHARITABLE AID ENQUIRY.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION.

The following is the report oE the Koyal Commission appointed to enquire into certain matters relating to the administration of the North Canterbury and Ashbnrton United Charitable Aid Board, which has been handed to us by the Board for publication :— In accordance with the terms of the Commission, dated the 12th day of November, j 1834, empowering your Commissioners to enquire into certain allegations against the North Canterbury and Ashburton Charitable Aid Board we, the undersigned, have the honour to submit the following report:— TUB PROCEDURE ADOPTED. The procedure adopted was as follows :— Notice was sent to each peraoa whose name bad been communicated to the Government as being able to give evidence, informing him or her of 'the time when and the place at which your Commissioners would sit; public notice was given in each newspaper at Christchurch that the Commission had issued, and of the time aud place appointed for taking evidence, and asking any person who could give evidence to attend and do so, and this notice was published daily whilst your Commissioners were sitting. Complainants and members of the Charitable Aid Board were informed that if they heard of any person who could give evidence, and who would not attend without a'snbpcena one would be issued on request, and the f ecessary expenses of the witness would be paid. Your Commissioners called on different people ac their own homes vrho were unable to attend, and visited without any previous warning various institutions under the Board's control, seeing the inmates in the absence (and in the Ashburton Old Men's Home in the first instance without the knowledge) of the officers in charge. Seventy-eight persons other than thoso connected with the Board's institutions gave evidence before your Commissioners, who also attended at the Board's office when relief was being distributed and inspected the books, &c, of j the Board.

Upon arrival at Christchnrch it was found that there would be great difficulty in getting people to come forward if the enquiry were in public, or if the evidence to be given were to be made public. It was decided therefore to allow to be present only those who had made complaints or given evidence, the officers and members of the Board, and official representatives from the Knights of Labour and Progressive Liberal Association, those bodies having laid complaints before the Government as to the conduct of charitable aid in THE GEOXJNDS OFJJOMPLAINT.

Your Commissioners were charged to investigate four points of complaint— 1. Cruelty of the officers of the Board in refusing assistance in deserving cases. 2. The extravagance of the Board in the scale of salaries paid to the officers. , 3. Its parsimony in dealing with old, sick and unfortunate people, and 4. Aβ to the conduct of the Inspector of the Board in acting immorally to some of those who ask'for or are in receipt of aid. ALLEGED CRUELTY. As to the first, no case was brought which justifies the charge of cruelty on the part of the Board's officials in refusing assistance in deserving cases. Complaints were made, but upon investigation we failed to find an instance in which we think the. Board or its officers were to blame. Tho system adopted by the Board is as follows :—The Board's officers attend at the office daily and the Chairman attends almost daily for an hour in the morning. The Secretary is authorised to and does give temporary relief in all cases requiring immediate attention. The Board's Committee meets weekly and each case is brought before and considered by the Committee. Reports are obtained from the police as to the history and circumstances of the applicant, and it is the duty of the Board's Inspector to visit and report on the applicant's home and surrdundiugs. If it is shown J that there are relatives able and legally (table to support the applicant relief is refused until an order has been applied for Lto -make^.euohKitel&tiilßssupport their i relation. Some of the complaints brought were by persons, who had been refused relief by ihe Board, because the applicant had relatives able and liable to support him or her. .Such refusal leads to the charge laid against the Board of not famishing assistance where it is required. In the case that was most strongly'?pressed before us the applicant stated to us that she had—as she expressed it—"a sister well off and who had no family, but since my husband "has disgraced us we do not hear from her. I know I have a right to ask her for help, but I would rather die than do so." In another case, the applicant had sons able to support her, and had obtained a magistrate's orders against them but the amouute due under the orders had not been paid, and when asked why she did not make the sons pay, instead of applying to the Board she replied—"l would rather suffer than put them in gaolfor not paying." As showing how impossible it is for the Board to satisfy not only the applicants, but the public, attention may be drawn to the first of the two ca?es already quoted. This case was instanced to us as being one of greic hard* ship through.:the delay of the Board in granting relief. Yet that same case was equally strongly. relied on by other complainants as a glaring instance of the Board's mismanagement in granting relief where it bad no. business to be given at all. - ALLEGBD EXTRAVAGANCE. As to the second'ground of complaint, extravagance in the scale of salaries paid to its officers, the executive officers of the Board are the Secretary, Inspector, Bookkeeper, Clerk and Junior Clerk. . The Secretary to the Board, who is also the Treasurer, receives £350 a year. He appears to. be an excellent officer, tilling a difficult and responsible - pisfc to the satisfaction of the' iria'jority of the .past and present members of the Charitable Aid Board. He .takes a keen -personal interest in his work and has been Secretary i to the Board for upwards of ten years. Hβ ! received at first a salary of £275, but which ! now stands at £350/ Attached is the Board's statement of accounts for the year 1893-94. This will give some idea of the amount of work involved in one branch only of the Secretary's duties. The. Inspector receives a salary of £170 per annum. His duties are to visit and report upon all cases applying* for relief. It is almost impossible for. any math to examine; fully and fairly into ! some of the cases relating to women and children. Tho reports furnished by the Inspector, many of t which we saw,, are of a meagre deecrip"tionttnd of less value than the reports furnished"by the police. The work done by this. Inspector is certainly not more arduous nor more responsible thau the work of a police constable, and the pay of the police is as follows:—First class constable Bs, second class constable 7e 6d, third class constable 7s per diem., Assuming the Inspector's duties to be equivalent to those of a first-class constable, his pay is considerably higher. Taking all thiugs into consideration, we are of opinion that ihe salary paid to the present Inspector is excessive. The bookkeeper receives £130 per annum. A considerable amount of bookkeeping is necessary, and the work appears to be well done.' In reference to tbia officer, we would note that recipients

of relief, members of the Board, and others that bad business at the Board's office all spoke well of him and of his courtesy and attention. We are of opinion that an assistant clerk, receiving £90 per annum, is nob required. This is admitted by the Chairman of the Board. He was taken over from the Immigration Department when the Board was first constituted, is an old man, has. others dependent upon - him, and would find, it difficult to earn a living elsewhere. Were his services dispensed with he would probably next appear as an applicant for re* lief. Under these circumstances the Board has kept him on, making what use they can of him. The junior clerk receives £50 a year. : ALLEGED FAKSIMONY. Aβ to the thud ground of complaint, parsimony in dealing with old, sick and unfortunate people, complaints were made that the Board had refused to issue necessaries oqdered by the Medical Officer, but the books proved that in each instance orders for the prescribed extras had been issued to the applicant, or to the person sent by applicant to receive the order. The only ground in support of this charge, so far as evidence came before us, was with respect to the amount of weekly rations issued to some of the outside recipients and to the old men at the Armagh street depot. T< take these latter as an instance of the in adequacy of the Board's dole—the depot is maintained as a sort of casual home where men are bonsed for a night or two. It is not intended for permanent cases, bat as a matter of fact old men are kept there for considerable periods. Of those who were there on oar visit to the place, all except one were "past work. They were really old age pensioners. Each man has a bedroom. There is a general kitchen and fuel provided, and there is no complaint on any subject except the nourishments. Each man is allowed Is 9d per week for food. He receives an order for rations to this amount and can get what he likes. This sum allows Id for each meal. The experience of the managers of private charitable institutions in Christchurch (one of which has upwards of 3000 persons pasainq through it in a year), is that 3d is the lowest sum that will provide a meal, and this only collectively. The Board admit that the sum allowed is not sufficient if it stood by itself, bat considers with private charity that is given to the men, and with some little money.they can occasionally earn, the Is 9d is sufficient. We cannot agree with this, and find as a fact, under existing circumstances, these men have not received sufficient allowance. -- If the sum allowed be not sufficient for these men, still less is it sufficient in other cases where oatrelief is supplied. All that we could learn or sco emphasised the evils of a system of out-door relief in the form of permanent doles; but it this system is to be continued, we consider this Is 9d per week is too little to sustain life. THE CONDUCT OF THE INSPECTOR. With regard to the fourth cause of complaint, the conduct of the Inspector of the Board in acting immorally to some of those who ask for or in receipt of aid, we find that this is not proved. The evidence consisted of positive accusation on the part of complainant and equally positive denial on the part of the officer. We made what enquiries we could as to the character of complainants from disinterested parties, and cannot say that any greater weight shouldt be attached to the accusation than to the denial. It is in the inspector's favour that the accusations generally originated from persons whose relief had been reduced or stopped. On the other hand there must be some justification for the stroDg current of publio feeling against his modes of action. No public officer can do his duty satisfactorily under such circumstances.- Sufficient evidence came before us to show that the work entailed upon an Inspector in domestic visitation, enquiry into C4Bea of eiokness, dealing with prostitutes, with confinements, the clothing and wellbeing of destitute children, &c, is unsuitable fur a man, and places him at the mercy of unscrupulous characters. The following quotation from the Inspector's report in the Parker case speaks for itself :—" In many cases I have to use a little flattery to gain my information." Finding op the Commission. To sum up:— 1. Charge of cruelty of the officers of the Board in. refusing assistance in deserving cases—We find no justification for this charge. 2. Alleged extravagance of the Board in the scale of salaries'paid to its officers— We find that the salaries of the Secretary, book-keeper, and* clerk are not excessive, but that of the present Inspector ie, and that the services of one clerk might be dispensed with. ' ■ 3. Charge of parsimony in dealing with old, sick, and unfortunate people—We find that there is justification for this complaint only in regard to the permanent dole issued. ' 4. Alleged conduct of the Inspector of the Board in acting immorally to some of those who ask for, or are in receipt of, aid—We find that this is not proved. Othee Mattebs Inquired Into. Your Commissioners farther desire to place before you certain matters which, although nob actually within the scope of their inquiry, were brought before them in etidence and closely connected therewith. The. Ashburton and North Canterbury Charitaole Aid. Board, as at present coustituted,'*controle a district extending from the boundary of Nelson on the north to the Rangitata River on the South. It is obvious that difficulties arise in the supervision ot relief over the area, and although members of the Board resident in outlying boroughs act as a sort of local Committee they ore in some oases powerless. An instance of this occurred at Ashburton. A woman discharged from the hospital there was destitute; the police gave her accommodation for the night, bat had to bring her before the Court as a vagrant. There* was no one wjio conld admit her to the Charitable Aid Home and she was hot fit to look after herself. All that the Court could do was to remand her to Lyttelton gaol for a week whilst arrangements could be made to get her into the Home. She was again brought before the Court and was subsequently admitted to the Home. Had the case occurred in Christchurch the woman would have been admitted at once to the Home; bat as she was at a distance from Chriatchurch there was' no means of dealing with her case promptly. Under the existing system some local bodies are nob represented on the Board. The local bodies elecb delegates trienuially, and when the last flection . took . plaoe the borough of .Woolston 1 was part of the Heathcote Road district. The borough, having been created since the election, has no representative on the Board.' The Board has under its control the following institutions : —(1) The Jubilee Memorial Home at- Woolston for men aud womenj (2) the Lyttelton Orphanage; (3) the Armagh street Depot, Christchurch; (4) the Female. Refuge, Linwood ; (5) the Old Men's Home, Ashbarton.. In addition to these public charities there are two large private institutions for the aged and indigent, those of Mr Herrick and Mr Birch. The latter are nob under the Board's control, and work independently of the Board and of each other. ' THB JUBH.EB MEMORIAL HOME. . This was erected for the aged poor,, and both men and women are admitted as inmates. As far as the women - were concerned the arrangements were admirable,

but the men were neither so contented nor ■o well looked after as they would have oeen in a Home devoted entirely to men. THE LYTTEtiTON ORPHANAGE. This is not now really used as an orphan* age, the larger proportion pf children being boarded out with families in the country. 1 It is only maintained in order to receive the I benefits of certain bequests. The average, uumber of children resident throughout the year was seven, at a cost of £331 ss' lid, whilst the cost of boarding-onb an average I number of thirty children was £434 11s 6d. I THE ARMAGH STREET DEPOT. This is ah old building, and whilst it might be utilised as a casual ward it is unlit for a home. Your Commissioners were dissatisfied with its condition, both the sleeping rooms ostd the beds being filthy.TUB FEMALE REFUGE, LIN WOOD. This institution is intended as a refuge for unmarried girls at the birth of their first child. It is of a reformatory character, and is under the management of a Cony anittee of ladies. The Board pays £310 per annum towards its maintenance, and the average number of inmates is sixteen, -.xclnaive of infants. The Refuge is exoelleutly managed. It is home-like, and •he mothers remain there for six months vfler the birth of the child, they ore aught how to tend it and their maternal affection stimulated. After leaving, both mother and child are carefully followed np. We note with regret the salaries paid to the matron (£3O) and the midwife (£25), for they seem too small in proportion to the responsibilities and work attached. I THE OLD MEN'S HOME, ASIIBUETON. The building is old and incommodious, : and in many respects unsuitable as a home for old men. The manager and his wife appear to be anxious to do their best, but Iwe were struck-by an indescribable absence Jof comfort. This institution is by no meane up to date in its arrangements for the sick and infirm. One of the old men acts as sick nurse, and there is no proper infirmary ward. It was pitiable to see an aged inmabe lying on his bed in a« corner of the bare ward, dying of consumption. - All that was absolutely necessary was doubtless done for him, but there were no evidences of careful tendance, and none of the alleviations of suffering so noticeable in the hospital ward at the Jubilee Home, where the aged eick and-infirm women are the special care of a trained hospital nurse. The only real complaint at Ashburton was in regard to the cooking of the meat. We saw the cook, one of the old men inmates, and can well believe there was foundation for the complaints made to us. A system exists of allowing the cook to sell and keep the proceeds of all fat, dripping, &0., and the inmates complain that he extracts all the fat possible before serving the meals. PBIVATS INSTITUTIONS. There are two large institutions maintained by charitable contributions, under the management of Mr Herrick and Mr Birch, respectively. The officers of the Board, and also the managers of these "homes," complain of the overlapping of the different institutions, by which each is defrauded, and an efficient system of relief impossible. A uniform plan of keeping records, as well as periodical inspections, seem absolutely necessary in all institutions receiving public moneys to spend in relief ; and the books of each should be open to the officers of the others.

Organisation of charity in Christchurch is required in order to oheok a growing evil. We would point out that, although there are no less than five institutions for. the relief of old men in Canterbury, complaint is made that there is insufficient accommodation, and there is no adequate provision for the infirm and those suffering from senile diseases.

The necessity tor a reform of the whole system is emphasised when the effect of the present mode is examined. On looking over the list of cases which the Board ia relieving or aiding, one cannot fail to observe the large number of illegitimate children. It is no uncommon thing to find the Board assisting to maintain a mother and two, three, or even four illegitimate children. An instance came before us where two of a woman's unfathered children are boarded out at 12s a week. For the birth of her third child the Board paid her confinement expenses for two or three weeks at 19s a week, and subsequently 10s. She . then went into the hospital, and whilst there the nurse was paid 5s a week for minding the baby. When she came out she was set up in a room with furniture, rent and rations, and at present costs the Board 8a a week; and this has gone on for years. j The evidence generally tended to show that the woman of loose character gets, charitable aid in proportion to the illegitimate children on her hands, and these children are thus a .source of income.' It is a curious fact that the three cases con*, cermng which the' greatest complaints were made as to the inhumanity and parsimony.of the Board were those who had received a very largo. share of relief for many years pact—cases of chronic pauperism. A return ehowa that from 1891 to 1894 assistance. was' given to 27 single women' with either one or two children, and 23 widows or deserted wives having', illegitimate children. An analysis of the list of persons in receipt df relief on October let, 1894, shows 143 widows, 54 deserted wives, also 50 illegitimate children, Granting this outdoor relief to so many women must necessarily have a tendency to aid insufficient, pay and do no good to the independent woman worker. The same report shows relief granted to 136 infirm and aged. Evidence was brought before us by medical men and others to show that provision is needed for lying-in cases. 'The Linwood Refuge is only available for a distinct class—unmarried girls at their first confinement. Therefore, in all except these cases the Board pays for' the nursing wherever the woman can get taken in. Th>s speaks for itself as to the need for a lyingin ward of some description. - Wβ would call attention to the present method' of dealing with husbands who desert their wives and persons who fail to obey orders for maintenance, of those dependent on them. In a large number of oases the gaol fails to aot as a deterrent. The present method is also illogical. B. deserts his family; it is' thiown on the publio for support.. B. is sent to gaol for non-maintenauce, and costs the country over £30 per annum aa a prisoner. ' A necessity, exists for- enforcing good behaviour and obedience to*rules among the inmates of institutions. The only course open at present is to turn out any old man who misbehaves himselh He cannot be allowed' to starve or rob, bo the police arrest him as a vagrant, and so on until he dies* . *

A case came before us id evidence where an ' able-bodied woman was eeufe to the Jubilee Home to do a day's washing for her week's ration*. She was insubordinate, and now receives her rations without the trouble of working for them. . . The system of giving out-relief in payment of rent is nneconomia in every sense. It appears that the Board expends upwards of £2000 per annum in paying cottage rents. The funds are, therefore, more or less a guarantee for the landlords of small tenements.' The- effect of this in keeping rents high for the struggling poor who are not recipients of charitable aid is obvious. In conclusion, your Commissioners would lay before yon the following suggestions in connection with various matters to which their attention has been directed in the evidence brought forward:— _- -

1. That the Relief Board should be mori representative and elective. 2. That the title of the Board be brought more into accord with the principles of State relief, " charity "and "benevolence , * being left to supplementary and voluntary organisations. 3. That some form of local charity organisation should work in co-opo ration with the Relief Board.

4. That the enquiry officer should be a woman; preferably one who has received a thorough hospital training. ' 5. That a lyiug-in ward be attached to the Female Refuge at Lin wood, and that provision be made for . uon-admissable hospital cases, such as imbecile, infirm, chronic and senile cases.

6. That the Board's annual expenditure upon payment of rents be reformed upon a moro economic basis.

7. That out-door relief be restricted as much as possible with a view to its ultimate abolition.

All these foregoing matters we have the honour to eubunt to your Excellency* consideration.

James C. Mabtin. Gbace Neill.